The good thing about Troll priests

Lesser of the two, and only when I’m Shadow, I envy shadowguard. Oh, I’ve seen the ridicule. It’s obvious they’ve not paid attention in class. It’s very similar to a shaman’s lightning shield – three charges that interrupt damage and toss damage back at the attacker. What a lot of players miss is… it’s modified by shadow modifiers. All those talent modifiers to damage add “ouch” to this spell. It’s an instant cast. It causes no threat. There’s no targeting requirements, and no cooldown. It does eat mana – without talents real close to 1:1 dpm – but that’s bearable.

But the one I truly envy is beserker. When things get desperate, the troll can get that spell off just a tiny bit faster. If things are going absolutely right… a Greater Heal in 1.75 seconds. *blink* Really? Well, if things are going absolutely wrong it’s only 2.25 seconds. But anyone who doesn’t think a quarter-second matters when casting OMG CHAINs hasn’t been priesting long.

Beserker gives 10 to 30% (not rating) spell haste. Now its downside is – 10 seconds of up time with a 3 minute cooldown. But for that 10 seconds… wow.

An interjection for the troll priests. The formula appears to be such that you get the 30% at 40% health or less, and the 30 to 10 curve is linear with your health — roughly 3% of health per 1% of haste. So at 75% health it’s about 15% spell haste.

OK, I generally avoid racial talents – not least because people argue over ‘best’, ‘worst’, and even whether they matter. But it leads in to the big subject – spell haste.

While you’re working on your other stat increasers, don’t forget to keep an eye out for spell haste. I’ve shown you how it can matter – and even 1 or 2 percent can make a difference. For the most part you don’t have to look hard — almost all of it comes from Black Temple drops (or recipes that drop there). But there are a few – a VERY few – other sources. Before I list them, though, another bout of numbers.

Right now, it takes a bit over 20 spell haste rating to get 1% of speed. In the upcoming patch that’s being buffed – just under 16% rating will give you the percent. (melee/range rating is getting nerfed from ~12 to that same ~16. They’re striving for equitability. now if they’d drop more TOYS for the lower ranks…)

Ok, let’s look at the list.

Drums of Battle. Something a leathercrafter (who is exalted with Sha’tar) can make, it gives 80 haste rating for 30 seconds. The bad news? 2 minute cooldown. If you’ve got a leathercrafter who can make these, help’em out. You may not be able to give them the knothide leather, but there’s also a primal fire and a primal earth involved in making it. Still… around 4% haste, 5% after the patch. It’s a small gain, but it can make a difference.

Juju Flurry. 30 haste rating for 20 seconds, once every 60 seconds. EVERYBODY can make this (potentially) — it’s a level thing. Remember the witch doctor in Everlook? She has you collect the shards from near the giants so she can make you this token that you stick in your bag. When you’ve got it, then grinding on Winterspring mobs will also have them dropping Ekos. And you turn in Ekos to make Jujus. 3 frostsaber eko will give you 3 Juju flurry. A surprisingly fast an easy substance to collect.

Before I go, I’ll mention that there are other jujus. Two that come to mind are the +15 frost and fire resistance. The Eko for those drop from the chillwind (chimera) and Shardtooth (bears), respectively – which you grind on if you’re like TJ and trying to get the Frostsaber mount. The resists are for 10 minutes.

Yes, I envy the trolls and their ability to get MORE HEALZ NOW when the time comes. We can come near – though they use it all as well.

“Aku’zral, struck down by the madness of the battle, showed why He was the head priest. A swift signal brought the wardrums flurry, and with a cry to His God and a swift drink of juju, he began to cast Great Heals as though they were nothing – mere flashes of lightning.” Aku’zral casts Greater Heals every 1.6 seconds. Beat that. /sniff [grin]

Yay for Troll Priests! My groups even love the overlooked Hex racial when fighting groups of healing mobs. The Damage reduction may be minor, but when three casters and healing each other, that little thorn in their side helps a Lot on elite fights.

About…

I've experience with many priests of many races and specs on several servers. The more I play, the more I realize how much I do not yet know. This is a share of some of what I have learned.
My main these days is Zingiber on the Undermine server.